B

    My grandfather Jack is 96 years old, and he has had an interesting life. He has travelled a lot in his life in the Far East. He visited the Taj Mahal in India and the Pyramids in Egypt. He hunted（狩猎） lions in Africa, and rode a camel in the Sahara Desert. He says the most beautiful place he has travelled to is Kathmandu in Nepal.

    Jack has married twice. His first wife died when she was 32. He met his second wife Maria while he was cycling round France. They have been married for 50 years, and they have lived happily in a small village since they got married.

    Jack says that he has never been ill in his life. The secret of good health, according to my grandfather, is exercise. He goes swimming every morning. He has done this since he was a boy. He also has a glass of wine every night! Perhaps that is his secret!

    When I first came to New York, I didn't have many friends. I got upset easily. Luckily, one of my co-workers (同事), Frank, took great care of me. Actually, he changed me.

    I used to be shy. I had a hard time talking Io strangers. Frank knew it.  And he helped me deal with it.

    One day we were at a restaurant.  I dropped a piece of pizza on my shirt while eating. Frank told me to borrow a Tide pen (去污笔) from someone. I was nervous, but Frank encouraged me. So I went to ask for help. In the end, I was not only able Io clean my shirt, but also made friends with a stranger.  It was a good start for me.  I became more and more confident (自信的).

    Frank was optimistic about life. He always finds a way to change the bad things into something good.

    Because of a new job, I moved to a new city. Frank and I communicated with each other less and less. Then, one day, I got a call from a friend. Frank had passed away. It was one of the worst moments in my life. There was nothing I could do to deal with my sorrow (悲伤) except go lo sleep.

    I looked at a lot of videos about Frank. At the end of one video, Frank said, "After the rain, the sun shines through the clouds." I remembered Frank's optimism. Then I stopped crying. I decided to smile a bit wider and love fife more.

    I taught high school for years and had the joy of knowing many wonderful kids. One student, Scott Wood, was especially close to my heart. What I taught was Creative Writing. Scott wrote quite well His talent is beyond the teacher's ability to teach. He was able to express through his written words well and it enabled me to light his way a little.

    Scott and other students were often in my home, at my kitchen table, sharing supper .It was amazing to me that what I said to them about life and love, and making time for the important things influenced them in their daily life. I watched them use these lessons they learnt in their lives as I followed their lives after graduation. Scott, especially, did this, and still does this today.

    Recently I told him I feel particularly down these days. I couldn't stop thinking about the sad and unpleasant things in the life. Here is what he emailed back to me.

    I remember you coming into the class one day late .You continued to tell all of us hat you were late because of very special reason. It had snowed the night before but instead of cleaning the ice off your windows in the car, you let the car heater lake cane of t and you sat and watched in wonder as he water slowly started flowing down your window. I think about this a lot when the weather begins getting cold, how most of us miss the simple treasure-ice melting. Life is full happiness and sadness. But every day is a gift, right? Life is not a lack of beauty, but lack of the find the beauty .Is that not what you always told us? That is how you lived and that is how you toll t to live.

    Ice melting. I do not remember his thing but, thinking back, it seems very true. That is what I believed, that is what I taught.

    You know, just to make it clean, an "ice -melting moment "to me is that moment you stop time for-you stop everything for -because it is too precious to miss .Scott, my student long ago, made me remember to never be too busy to stop the world, stop the clock for the magical moments in our daily lives.